Bringing the Bible Out of the Closet

SMUGFest Charity Event this Monday! : By Maddy Oakes

The University of Sheffield’s LGBT Committee is holding a charity event this bank holiday Monday: a music festival raising money for SMUG (Sexual Minorities Uganda), supporting LGBTQ people in Uganda in light of conservative laws against their way of life.

Homosexual acts between two men over the age of 21 (in private) were decriminalised in England and Wales in 1967 (Scotland decriminalised it in 1980, followed by Northern Ireland in 1982). But, the age of consent was only reduced to 18 in 1994, and to 16 in 2001.And an age of consent for sexual relations between two women was only introduced to law in Great Britain in 2000 with the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act.

However, according to the ILGA (The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association) more than 78 countries today have criminal laws against sexual activity by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex people, including Uganda.